Pipe-coupling for railway rolling-stock



J. W. ROBERTS.

PIPE COUPLING FOR RAILWAY ROLLING STOCK. APPLICATION FILED JULY 10. 1920.

1,389,012. Patented Aug. 3 ,1 L

2 SHEETS-SHEET 1.

' INVENTUB" .uxRM LMM J- w. ROBERTS.

PIPE COUPLING FOR RAILWAY RO'LLING STOCK.

APPLICATION FILED JULY 10, 192p. I v

' Patented Aug. 30,1921.

2 SHEETS-SHEET 2.

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PATENT OFFICE.

JOHN W. ROBERTS, 0F SARNIA, ONTARIO, CANADA.

PIPE-COUPLING ron RAILWAY ROLLING-STOCK.

Specification of Letters Patent. Patented Aug. 30, 1921.

Application filed July 10, 1920. Serial No. 395,361.

To all'wh'omz't may concern;

Be it known that I, JOHN W. ROBERTS, of the city of Sarnia, in the county of Lambton, Province of Ontario, Canada, a subject of the King of Great Britain, have inventedcertain new and useful Improvements in Pipe-Couplings for Railway Rolling-Stock, of .whichthe following is a specification.

This invention relates to means for automatically coupling together the :air and steam pipes of railway rolling stock such as shown and described in my prior United States Patent. No. 1,121,763 of December 22nd, 1914. In this prior construction a lurality of superimposed coupling members were supported on a frame so as to be independently slidable thereon and their for-' ward ends were shapedto form a coupling head for engagement with a similar head formed on the coupling members of an opposed coupling.

I now find it desirable to separate the function of valining the couplers and the function of maintaining opposed coupling -members in. air tight engagement, and "my ob ect is to devise a satlsfactory construc-' tion for this purpose.

I attain my object by means of the, constructions hereinafter described and illustrated in the accompanying drawings in which Figure 1 'is a plan view, partly broken away, showing a pair of couplings in the cou led position;

ig. 2 a side elevation of the same, partly in section; 1

Fig. 3 a front elevation of one of the cou"- plings; and

Fig. 4 a rear elevation of the same.

In the drawings like numerals of reference indicate corresponding parts in the different figures. p

1 is a bracket adapted to be'connected with any suitable part of a railway car. This bracket is provided with bearings for the trunnions 2 of a supporting frame 3. The bracket 1 is provided with a plate 4 provided with a seat 5 for a coil spring.

The supporting frame 3 is provided with the inwardly facing alined vertical pivots 6 adapted to engage in slots 7' formed in the top and bottom members 8 and 9 of the carrying frame for the coupling members.

The carrying frame is provided with the member 10 connecting the toprand bottom members 8 and 9, which is provided at its rear side with a spring seat 11. A coil spring 12 is supported on the seats 5 and 11 and tends normally to maintain the carrying frame in the'extended position shown. The carrying frame thus possesses two movements relative to the supporting frame, viz. a sliding movement longitudinally and a rocking movement laterally.

The carrying frame supports the coupling members 13. These are preferably three in number" and are superimposed on one another so that each may slide longitudinally of the frame independent of the others. I It is necessary that each coupling member should be yieldingly extended so that it may be maintained by spring pressure in contactwith a corresponding coupling member of the opposed coupler. For this purpose I provide the springs 14, each of which en gages a spring seat 15 formed on the forward side of the member 10 of the carrying frame and a spring seat 16 on the corresponding coupling member. It is necessary to limit the degree of extensionof the coupling-members collectively and also individually. I therefore provide the surfaces of the coupling members adjacent one another with the bosses 17 shaped to slide on one another. Certain of these bosses are provided with the projections 18 which enter grooves 19 in the adjacent bosses. These bosses are preferably provided bothat the rear and front endsof the coupling memhers. ,Each coupling member thus has a limited independent motion longitudinlly of the carrying frame. As soon as this limit of movement in either direction is reached, the member transmits any movement it may haveto the adjacent coupling member.

'The extension of the coupling members as a whole is limited in any suitable manner. I show for this purpose the projections 20 on the rearward bosses 17 of the outer coupling members, which operate in grooves formed in the top and bottom members 8 and 9 to maintain the alinement of the coupling member in the carrying frame, and which'are adapted to engage shoulders21 at the forward ends of the. grooves. Means may be provided, if necessary, to limit the rearward movement of the coupling members as a whole, though this will not as a rule be necessary.

It will be noted that the forward ends of the coupling members normally project forwardly of their position when engaged with the members of an opposed coupler, so that when two couplers are opposed and the carrying frames engaged as hereinafter de scribed, the forward ends of the coupling members are pressed back and are resiliently held in engagement, each possessing freedom of movement independent of the others to accommodate itself perfectly to its opposed coupling member. 7

The coupling heads in my present invention are formed on the ends of the carrying frames instead of forming part of the coupling members as in the construction of the prior patent hereinbefore referred to. The outerend of each coupling member is formed of the cheek pieces 22, one at the upper part of one side of the carrying frame and the other at the lower part of the other side. These cheek pieces curve outwardly and also curved from the horizontal central plane of the coupler in an upward and downward direction respectively; consequently when two opposed couplers meet, each coupling frame will be guided to a position of alinement with the opposed coupling frame by the engagement of the cheek pieces with the respective frames. Vertical alinement is secured by the engagement of the surfaces 23 of the cheek pieces of one coupling with the similar surfaces of the cheek pieces of an opposed coupling. The forward ends of the coupling members form a sliding fit between the front vertical side members 24: of the carrying frame and are provided with the usual gas kets 25 as in my prior construction.- For convenience in construction and assembly, the vertical side members 24 are formed integral with the bottom member 9 of the carrying frame and the upper end of each side member is provided with a tenon 26'adapted to fit into a suitable mortise in the top member 8 of the frame. The rearward ends of the top and bottom plates are held from separating owing to their being fitted within the parts of the supporting frame carrying the pivot 6. To retain the forward end of the top member 8 in proper engagement with the side members 24:, I provide a bail 27, the ends of which are connected with trunnions 28 formed on the bottom member 9, while the upper part of the bail is divided and the ends connected by a bolt 29.

The couplers will normally be held in ap proximately central position by means of supporting and centering mechanism, which is not shown as being well known in the art.

From the above description it will be seen that I have devised automatic coupling means in which the alinement of the couplers and their interengagement is not dependent in any way on the interengagement of the couplingmembers proper, the latter merely having the function of maintaining air tight connection with one another. Full provision is made to take care of the varying distance between the cars on which the devices are used'and for maintaining a proper connection of the couplers in any position relative to one another which the two cars may assume under running conditions.

What I claim as my invention is 1. In a pipe coupling, the combination of a supporting frame provided with inwardly facing alined vertical pivots; a coupling member carrying frame comprising top and bottom members having longitudinal slots formed therein engaging said pivots, vertical side members integral with one of the aforesaid members, tenons on the ends of the side members adapted to fit in mortises formed in the other of said first mentioned members; and a detachable bail holding the top and bottom members together.

2. In apipe coupling for rolling stock, the combination of a supporting frame provided with inwardly facing alined vertical pivots; a transversely arranged plate having a spring seat on its forward side; a coupling member carrying frame comprising top and bottom members having longitudinal slots formed therein engaging said pivots; vertical members connecting the top and bottom members,.the rear vertical member having a spring seat on its rear side and a plurality of spring seats on its forward side; a spring carried by the first two mentioned. seats and normally tending to extend the carrying frame; a plurality of superimposed coupling members independently slidable on'the carrying frame and each member provided on its rear end with a spring seat; a separate spring tending to extend each coupling member carried by the last mentioned seat and its corresponding seat on the forward side of the vertical member; and a head formedon spring seat on its rear side and a plurality of spring seats on its forward side; a spring carried by the first two mentioned seats and normally tending to extend the carrying frame; a plurality of superimposed coupling on the carrying frame adapted to interenmembers independently slidable 0n the cargage with the similar head of an opposed 10 rying frame and each member provided on coupling.

its rear end With a spring seat; a separate spring tending to extend each coupling mem- JOHN ROBERTS ber carried by the last mentioned seat and Witnesses:

its corresponding seat on the forward side HENRY W. DEIDERICH,

of the vertical member; and a head formed CLARENCE T. MURPHEY. 

